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Rising Suns: Two Cool for school
Carleen and Jeff Cullen are bringing their Cool the Earth program to the people who matter—kids

by Jacob Shafer

A lot of people walked out of Al Gore's 2006 global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth with a desire to make changes—in their lives, in their communities, on their planet. But, as is often the case with such bouts of temporary inspiration, not everyone followed through. A lot of people climbed in their SUVs, drove home to their energy-sucking homes and kept ignoring the ecological peril at hand.

Not Carleen Cullen. After seeing Gore's film, Cullen didn't just feel like doing something—she actually did. Along with her husband, Jeff, Cullen started an organization called Cool the Earth and an outreach program called Cancel-a-Car, aimed at bringing the global warming message directly to the people whose duty it will be to deal with the runaway greenhouse mess we've created: our children.

Cullen admits that she went into the theater as a global-warming skeptic. "I found it hard to believe that if such dire things were in our future we weren't all taking immediate action," she says. When the climate-change light bulb (an energy-efficient one, of course) went off for Cullen, the lack of widespread action that had once fueled her doubts now became a disturbing state-of-affairs that she was motivated to alter.

"I spent that summer reading everything I could find on the subject, from all the experts, including the skeptics," she remembers. "And in the end, the evidence is just overwhelming that we're facing a future with some serious problems if we don't address our greenhouse gas emissions."

The Cullens implemented their fledgling program at their children's school, Bacich Elementary in Kentfield. They brought in teachers, parents and administrators and rented the Rafael Film Center for a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, followed by discussions and educational sessions about simple steps we all can take to shrink our carbon footprint.

People left the event energized, Cullen recalls, but when she checked back with participants a few weeks later to see what changes they'd made, most people admitted they hadn't made any.

"I realized that just because people admit there's a problem doesn't mean they're going to take the time and energy to make change," says Cullen.

Rather than allowing this, well, inconvenient truth to derail her mission, Cullen dug in her heels and tried to think of a way to gently but effectively force people to start doing something, anything, to turn the tide.

Noting the success of anti-smoking campaigns in schools—where kids educated to the dangers of tobacco use went home and pressured their folks to flush their Marlboros—Cullen decided to take her message straight to the youth, and see if their energy and motivation couldn't rub off on Mom and Dad.

Cancel-a-Car (which now simply goes under the name Cool the Earth, same as its parent organization) works like this: A school-wide assembly is convened, with teachers and students taking the stage to perform a play that follows a group of polar bears on their quest to avoid the clutches of the evil Mr. Carbon (a role Robert Duvall was born to play) and find their way home. The key to the polar bears' happy ending, and the whole program, is a "coupon booklet" that outlines 20 different ways that, at home or in the car, people can reduce their greenhouse emissions.

As students convince their parents to implement suggestions from the booklet, they bring the coupons back to school where they're displayed on a banner touting the program's success. Throughout the school year, various coupons are spotlighted with special events. As an example, a coupon that calls for shorter showers and more efficient watering techniques in the garden is accompanied by a "pump, pass and pour" relay race where kids get to have some wet and wild fun while learning about water conservation.

Cullen admits that none of the ideas in the booklet are wholly original; they're the same tips you'll find on any number of enviro Web sites. The key difference is that by placing them in the booklet and sending them home with students, Cool the Earth is disseminating its message through a proven channel—think anti-smoking—and even more important, they're getting kids involved.

While emphasizing that every action—no matter how seemingly small or insignificant—makes a difference (and the small actions Cool the Earth has helped initiate have added up—to the tune of nearly 8 million pounds of carbon saved, Cullen says, the equivalent of 657 cars being taken off the road), Cullen acknowledges that the importance of the program lies more in planting the seeds of change in young people's minds. "I'm not saying that if we get a few people to change their light bulbs it's going to end global warming overnight," she says. "I'm doing this because I believe it will influence children for their entire lives, and give them a lasting sense of caring for the planet. It's much more about a broad mind-set change."

Perhaps not surprisingly here in eco-conscious Marin, Cullen says the program has enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive response. But, she adds, she has encountered resistance, mostly from parents who object to what they see as a biased political message being thrust upon their children.

"Pretty much at every school we've been challenged," she says. "So far every principal has said, 'This is what the school is doing; we think teaching kids about conservation is a good thing.' It's usually resolved pretty amicably, we try to be respectful. We certainly don't want the kids [of skeptics] to feel badly, so we just emphasize that these [conservation ideas] are good things no matter what you believe."

Asked if she's tried to bring in Al Gore, the man whose Academy Award-winning PowerPoint presentation sparked the whole thing, to speak at one of her target schools, Cullen laughs and asks, "Do you know his number?"

While a visit from the former vice president may not be imminent, Cool the Earth is looking to expand its reach. Already in 23 Marin and Sonoma schools, the program continues to grow. Cullen says out-of-state offshoots are in the works.

For Cullen, one of the most rewarding parts of the program has been seeing the change in parent-child relationships, as two generations simultaneously get excited about creating a greener world. "I had one mom come up to me and tell me a story about being at Mollie Stone's with her daughter. She came up to her and said, 'Mom, we should get this!' And she responded, 'No honey,' assuming it was candy or gum. Then she looked and saw it was a green reusable bag. It was right after one of our assemblies, and that woman said she and her daughter would never have thought to do that if it hadn't been for us."

Somewhere, Al Gore is smiling.

For more information about Cool the Earth, visit www.cooltheearth.org .